IMF Believes Indonesia Ready to Face Economic Volatility

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believed Indonesia is prepared to face the economic volatility.

"They (IMF) said that we have made good preparations for it," the President said at the Merdeka Palace on Tuesday responding to the outcome of his meeting with IMF Chief Christine Lagarde.

The IMF pointed out that the current economic conditions in China and the United States will have an unfavorable impact on other countries including Indonesia, the President said.

Asked whether the IMF has made suggestions to improve the Indonesian economy, he said the world body has given its views on the Indonesian economy.

Lagarde met President Jokowi particularly to discuss Indonesia's plan to host the annual meeting of the World Bank and IMF in the resort island of Bali in 2018.
"That's all we talked about, nothing else," he said.

The President said he and the IMF chief did not talk about efforts to raise the country's foreign exchange reserves through capital inflows.

Member of the presidential communication team Teten Masduki said the IMF has appointed Indonesia to host the annual meeting in 2018 because they saw that the Indonesian economy has been growing well.

"They (IMF) talked much about global factors including the US and Chinese (economies). They saw that Indonesia will be able to deal with the factors," he said.

He said the IMF has lauded the Jokowi-JK government for taking two important steps, including infrastructure development and human resources development through education and health programs.

"They saw the steps as the most fundamental things and believed Indonesia will lay foundation for the development of good economy in the future if it focuses on the two things. So they appreciated Indonesia for the infrastructure and human resource development," he said. (WDY)